Paige Harrison

Having gone straight from undergraduate studies at WC to medical school, Paige is the youngest member of her class of 260 at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“The biology department at Washington College is the best. I love every single faculty member in the department; they each bring something really different to the table,” Paige says. “Dr. Ford gave me a lot of confidence with my biology research; Dr. Krochmal made biology really exciting. And the way Dr. Verville [associate professor of biology] has organized the premed committee and handles student preparation is wonderful. When you go through the actual application process it’s a breeze because you’ve already set up your files and had practice interviews,” Paige explains.

Beyond her studies, Paige shadowed ten doctors in a wide range of specialties including her father’s podiatry practice. She also volunteered at Chester River Hospital Center in Chestertown and at a community free clinic near her home in Hagerstown, MD. She discovered osteopathic family medicine while shadowing Dr. Marianne Herr-Paul, DO, in Greencastle, PA. “I was so impressed with her approach; I’d never seen anything like it,” Paige says. “My philosophy of treating the whole patient really fits with osteopathy.”

Paige explored her other passion, traveling, with a trip to Costa Rica, and a volunteer post in Ghana in 2010. “I have always been drawn to the African culture, so the summer before my senior year I spent a month at an orphanage in Dodowa through International Volunteer Headquarters. It was everything I could have asked for,” she says. “The experience was very raw: 70 children, one ‘mother’ and four volunteers. We lived in a house with no running water and intermittent electricity. The children made it all worthwhile. They needed our love and attention—and we still keep in touch.”

Looking ahead, Paige hopes to incorporate travel in her medical practice. “I’d like to consider participating in Doctors Without Borders. I love traveling, and would love to be able to make a difference in an underprivileged nation.”

At Washington College Paige served as an officer for Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, as well as Tri-Beta (the national biological honor society) and Sigma Xi (the scientific research honor society). She also rode on the equestrian team.